PROJECTSUMMARY
Project financially supported by a grant of the Romanian Ministry of Education and Scientific Research, program PN-II-IDEAS
Project code: PN-II-ID-PCE-4-0433/2012
Contracting agency: CNCS-UEFISCDI
Contract number 74/02.09.2013
Wettability control on solid surfaces is an important problem relevant to many fields, such as self-cleaning coatings for solar energy panels, satellite dishes, automobile windshields, ice-repellant and anti-corrosion surface treatments for aircrafts, highly performant materials for biomedical and microfluidics applications, to mention just a few. The parameter that characterizes the wettability is the contact angle. Superhydrophobic (SH) surfaces are defined as those on which a water droplet has a contact angle that is higher than 150 °.
This project aims to develop composite nanoparticle-polymer coatings with ice-repellant properties that are cost-effective, facile to manufacture in large scale and highly adherent to various substrates. The coatings will be prepared by dispersing inorganic nanoparticles in a concentrated co-polymer solution containing a crosslinker. The mixture will be deposited on the surface to be treated and allowed to cure by crosslinking.
The hierarchical surface roughness that imparts SH properties will be achieved by the use of iron oxide nanoparticles capable of mutual magnetic interaction during the curing stage; this effect will cause colloidal aggregation and micro-scale surface protuberances.